For some reason, lately I am waking up with severe pain all over my body. No matter how much I deny it, I guess my age is catching up with me. Normally a tablet or two of Tylenol will do the trick of alleviating the pain. Though only temporarily.

To solve this problem, my son suggested that I take a Epsom salt bath in my bath tub. He says Epsom salt not only alleviates the pain, but also rejuvenates the skin and makes you look younger.

He is standing proof. He looks young alright (but don’t tell me that he is young anyway).

Boy! Am I glad I bought a Toyota Prius? You bet. Let me admit though, first when I was thinking of buying this car, I had my doubts. Though the technology was on the road a decade earlier,for me at least, it was not a proven technology. What if it fails midway? What if the battery fails to start the car? What would be the cost of replacing the Lithium Ion Battery pack? Will it be prohibitive? Can I get my local mechanic to do even routine maintenance on this? And so on. Read the rest of this entry »

Hardest thing for me to do is, reading the mind that is not there – Al Koran, the mind reader

How often are we really there?

Imagine yourself at the coffee shop with your dear friend at the table sitting next to you. Assume it is one of those odd hours when the shop is practically empty. So technically it is just the two of you. And yet he / she waves his or her hand in your face or snap the fingers just to get your attention. Then you realize, for a short while, you were not there.

Recently I came across a job advertisement that seemed almost perfect for me, given my qualifications, skill level and more importantly my schedule. But there was one catch. I am giving an excerpt of the ad and my reasoning for applying for this job, so that you will be in sync with what I am talking about. Read the rest of this entry »

“Max, grownups sometimes tell lies to make a living” – Fletcher (Jim Carrey) in the movie Liar Liar to his son Max (Justin Cooper).

Remember Fletcher, a habitual liar, the lawyer in the movie Liar Liar, pleading with his son Max on his birthday, to ‘unwish’ so that, going forward his father can tell lies. That would relieve him (Fletcher) from the obligation to tell the truth under all circumstances. Fletcher goes at length to explain to his son that he has a case to win; his career is at stake and so requests his son to permit him to lie.

So while it appears reasonable that lawyers, politicians, priests and even doctors and the rest of us to lie sometimes to make a living, is it ok for that one group, Scientists; to lie? Read the rest of this entry »

There are two times in a man’s life when he should not speculate: when he can’t afford it and when he can.
- Mark Twain

Looks like Mark Twain’s fellow Americans routinely ignore his advice. And that sets them apart. Just a decade ago they invested in dot.com companies hoping that it is the next big thing to get rich quick.

And their speculation in the housing market in the recent past (that real estate prices will forever go up), is known all too well. Now all of us (including the Americans) speculate as to when the world economy will start looking up again or whether we have seen the bottom of it or not. Read the rest of this entry »

I bet you had been looking at the lady on the left far longer than necessary. I would even go so far as to say that you clicked on it to see an enlarged version. You ignored my writing here for a moment and then came back. If that be so, I can’t blame you my friend. And you don’t have to feel guilty either. It’s not sinful and it’s biological.

“Wait a minute. Since when did you assume priesthood and started prescribing what is sin and what is not?” you ask me. Read the rest of this entry »

Last week I happened to read two articles, on a famous science fiction TV serial / movies, in two leading magazines. If you guessed it to be Star Trek you are right and have set the premise for this post. While Newsweek chose to put it on its cover and Time gave decent two-page coverage on Star Trek and its influence on a generation (that includes President Obama) that grew up on it and in making science fiction as a welcome genre. There was just a passing reference about my favorite program Battlestar Gallactica (BSG) and that too in only one of the two articles. Read the rest of this entry »

All along I had been trying my best to steer clear of topics that relate to religion. That was until now. I happened to read an article in Newsweek titled As American as Apple Pie that set me up to write this post. To be exact, the words, “It depends on how you view my head scarf ” that got me thinking. In it, I see only a desperation to being accepted by the rest of the society (given one’s religious beliefs), rather than a quiet conviction in living by them.

I remember the time I wore my first wristwatch. It was a simple analog watch, tied to my wrist with a leather strap, with hands for hour, minute and second. At that time it was one of my precious possessions. Whenever I was alone, I used to look at the second-hand for minutes on end, marveling at its beauty. What’s more, there was a very tiny airplane attached to the second-hand which kept circling at the periphery endlessly. It nearly had me mesmerized whenever I looked at it long enough. Sometimes I used to take it close to my ear and hear it ‘tick, tick, tick’. It was one of those moments in my life when time stood still. Read the rest of this entry »